Why did Prabhupada not encourage devotees to consult astrologers?
Answer Podcast
Transcript
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Thank you.
Yes, please. So, Vyacheslav Prabhupada in his books acknowledges astrology repeatedly but in his letters he discourages devotees from consulting astrologers. My understanding is that there is Paravidya which is spiritual knowledge which is material knowledge which is given in the scriptures.
Now, in general the mood of the Bhakti tradition has to be focus always on the Paravidya. So, in the Bhagavatam says, that give up even Dharma Artha Kaama Moksha is focus on Prema. So, with this mood even that which is materially good is given up or is subordinated for the sake of the transcendent and in that sense devotees because they are focusing on the ultimate thing.
So, if we are not even concerned about Dharma Artha Kaama then astrology which basically tells about Dharma Artha Kaama. Astrology largely talks about the material course of action that one is going to get in one’s life. Then devotees don’t care so much for that.
So, in principle Bhakti is transcendental and that’s why while acknowledging the validity of material fields of knowledge there is no necessity for taking to them. So, so there is actually this whole obsession with knowing the future that consumes many people. So, before every decision I want to consider an astrologer, I want to consider an astrologer and this is today become a it’s not just astrology there are tarot reading and so many other fields that are there by which people get consumed and it can become a mental obsession what is in the future, what is in the future, what is in the future and that mental obsession can be a distraction from Bhakti.
So, also at that time there were no trained devotee astrologers also at that time and Prabhupada talked about it. So, in general Srila Prabhupada discouraged devotees from going towards any of the fringe fields that can that can be connected with Krishna that were traditionally connected with Krishna but can now be distractions. So, in order to as you also said that not only can be there is obsession with knowing the future but there can also be you know rationalization of one’s own actions by consulting some astrologers.
Now, I want to do something suppose somebody is in a relationship some and they find this relationship is not working so they want to get out of the relationship and they go to one astrologer, second astrologer, third astrologer, fourth astrologer and say no no don’t don’t break this relationship, keep this relationship. They go on till they find an astrologer who says break the relationship and then they use that astrologer to justify to breaking that relationship. So, what happens often I just saw one book is how to mess your life with astrology.
So, that’s what happens people can use astrology to rationalize what they want to do and thus they can make a mess of their lives and attribute it to oh this is what my astrological chart said. So, with proper philosophical understanding since if astrology is consulted that can be helpful. So, Prabhupada’s letters and Prabhupada’s books whenever this becomes a hermeneutical issue when Prabhupada said one thing in one place another thing in another place then that means that Prabhupada acknowledged astrology but he has given due caution with respect to consulting astrologers.
So, we should also be cautious and only consult trustworthy astrologers possibly devotee astrologers if at all we have to and consult them with great great caution. It is not so astrology can at best it’s like a weather forecast. You can tell us it’s going to rain at this time or it’s going to be storm at this time and then we can be a little more careful but if we start over relying on astrology then our focus can shift from